Border dwellers cast their vote hoping for `permanent peace`

Hamirpur Border: People staying close to the Indo-Pak border turned out in large numbers to exercise their franchise on Thursday saying their`s was vote against bullets from across the frontier.

"We do not want to leave our homes due to Pak shelling and firing they resort to, breaking the ceasefire pact. Our vote is against that firing to send out a message to Pak", said Kuldeep Singh Manhas, Sarpanch of Garkhal hamlet, located barely a few hundred meters away from the International Border (IB).

Manhas, who had led a campaign during October 2013 shelling seeking a strong reply to Pakistan by BSF troops, said, "we will not be cowed down by their inhuman acts of firing on civilian population. Apart from other demands, my vote is basically for `permanent peace` and total ceasefire pact along Indo-Pak border in Jammu and Kashmir".

He was supported in his argument by 32-year-old Parmila Devi, who suffered severe wounds when Pak mortar shells had landed in the compound of her house on October 24 last year, injuring her three other relatives.

"I have caste my vote just now. My vote is not only against the inflation, price rise and development needs of the people staying on border, but a vote seeking peace on the borders", Devi said.

Devi and Manhas are among the 5 lakh population living bang along Line of Control (LoC) and International Border (IB) with Pakistan, who have lost their near and dear ones during Pakistan firing, shelling and mine blasts.